Collapsible tube stand



y 26, 1964 L. M. MCLAUGHLIN 3,134,507

COLLAPSIBLE TUBE STAND Filed July 21, 1961 INVEN TOR.

MWRE/VL'E 17- IILAZ/EHL/N AGE/V T United States Patent 3,134,507 COLLAPSIBLE TUBE STAND Lawrence M. McLaughlin, 26 Woorlside Drive,

RD. 3, Farmingdale, NJ. Filed July 21, 1961, Ser. No. 125,738 1 Claim. (Cl. 222-100) This invention relates to a stand for supporting a collapsible tube and more particularly to a stand that is rotatable with relation to the collapsible tube to extrude the contents of the tube.

The prior art illustrates examples of means to grasp the end of a collapsible tube for rolling and compressing the tube to expell the contents of the tube.

It is an object of this invention to provide a stand that may support a collapsible tube in an operational position and in which the tube is retained at its closed end.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a stand for a collapsible tube in which the means to retain the tube is a slotted element provided with a retaining top or cap to provide means for rotating the slotted element to collapse the tube about the slotted element.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a stand for a collapsible tube in which the means to retain the tube is a slotted element provided with a retaining top or cap and in which the cap is provided with a raised identification to indicate the contents of the tube.

Further objects of this invention shall be apparent by reference to the accompanying detailed description and the drawings in which FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the stand,

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the stand retaining a collapsible tube,

FIG. 3 is a view of the stand partially in cross section with a cap,

FIG. 4 is an elevational View of a further embodiment of the stand,

FIG. 5 is a plan view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 3 illustrating one form of identification,

FIG. 6 is a plan View similar to FIG. 5 illustrating another form of identification, and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the cap illustrating a further embodiment of the identifying means.

Referring to the drawings there is illustrated a stand 10 for a collapsible tube. The stand 10 is comprised of a base 11 and an upright stem 12. The stem 12 is provided with a slot 14 throughout most of its length. Slot 14 is provided large enough to slip the end of a collapsible tube into the slot. In its simplest form the stand 11 and upright 12 may be rotated while holding the collapsible tube to extrude the contents of the tube as desired. The tube will of course wrap itself around the upright 12 as the base 11 is rotated. Referring to FIG. 2 the stand 11 which may be a fiat metal base either circular in form as illustrated in FIG. 2 or taking some other form such as square as illustrated in FIG. 4 but in any event the base is provided large enough to support a collapsible tube 15 in the position as illustrated in FIG. 2 or the base 11 may be weighted sufiiciently to counterbalance the weight of the extended supported tube. The base 11 may be made of any rigid material to provide the necessary support also a further embodiment of the base 11 is to construct the base 11 as a rubber suction cup thus providing means to not only support the tube 15 but to retain the tube in a definite position. In this par- 3,134,507 Patented May 26, 1964 ticular embodiment using a suction cup, it is preferable to utilize the form shown in FIG. 3 in which the upright element 12 may be rotatable with relation to the base 11 and in which a cap 16 is mounted at the top of the upright element 12. This will assist in retaining the end of the tube and will prevent element 12 from being spread by the end of the tube when it is inserted. Cap 16 may have a pressed fit or cap 16 may be provided with an internal thread and threadably secured to an external thread on the upper end of the upright element 12. Thus in this embodiment, base 11 may remain stationary and by grasping tube 15 and turning cap 16, the end of tube 15 may be wound about the upright element 12 to extrude the contents of the tube 15. The base 11 may in a further embodiment be provided as a magnetic material to adhere to metal by magnetic force.

A still further embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIGS. 3, 5, 6 and 7 in which the cap 16 is provided with raised identifying means on its surface, that is, in FIGS. 3 and 5 there is illustrated a raised miniature formation of false teeth 17 so that the user of the collapsible tube 15 when feeling the cap 16 immediately knows due to the identifying miniature false tooth formation 17 that the tube 15 necessarily contains tooth paste. Referring to FIG. 6 a further illustration of the identifying means on the cap 16 may take the form of a rough surface 18 similar to a heard to indicate that the tube 15 in this instance would contain shaving cream. Referring to FIG. 7 the cap 16 on its surface may be pro vided with a raised identification means taking the form of a skull and bones 19 to indicate that the contents of the tube 15 is a poison.- Similarly the cap 16 may have various other raised identifications. For example, it may be provided with a Rx to indicate a medicinal paste or ointment. In addition the surface of the cap 16 in this embodiment may be provided with any one of a plurality of letters indicating a code for example, the U shown would indicate Ungentine, a V would indicate Vaseline, etc. The cap 16 may take various other forms, for example, it may have a tacky surface to indicate the contents of the tube as cement or glue. Still other forms may be employed, for example, the cap 16 may be provided with a shape of a hand on its surface to indicate a hand ointment or cream. Or the cap 16 may be provided with a small raised comb to indicate the contents of the tube as a hair cream. Or the cap 16 may be provided with a shape of a midget shoe to indicate the contents of the tube 15 as a shoe preparation. Thus the identifying means may vary and take many other forms but in each instance providing a definite indication of the contents. Similarly the cap 16 may be provided with braille characters and of course is easily identified by the blind or those reading braille.

Although the identifying means has been shown as applied to the cap 16 similarly referring to FIG. 1, the midget false teeth 17 may be applied to the base 11 and of course all of the identifying means may be positioned on individual bases to provide the means of identifying the contents of tube 15. Although cap 16 has been shown as a cap for upright 12 the internal diameter of the threaded aperture of cap 16 may be formed to fit tube 15. Thus in operation the user will feel the cap 16 as he removes it from the collapsible tube to indicate its contents. Although the upright element 12 has been shown as a slotted shaft similarly shaft 12 may be comprised of two uprights vvithout departing from the spirit v be varied according to the product or according to the trade name without departing from the spirit of this invention and this invention shall be limited only by the appended claim.

What is claimed'is: a s a t A stand for retaining and supportingacollapsible tube in a horizontal raised dispensing position, which includes a weighted. base withian uprightselernent at its center, said upright element slotted for a'sufiicient distance from 7 its unsupported end to receive the sealed end of a collapsible' tube, said base Weighted s iifli'c ientlyTo' counter balance the suspended weight of the collapsible tube when being rotated and collapsed for dispensing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,668,296 Wells May 1, 1928 1,995,023 Chandler Mar. 19, 1935 2,571,175 Williams et al. Oct. 16, 1951 2,613,852 Frederick Oct. 14, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 557,204 Canada May 13, 1958 846,785 Great Britain Q. Aug. 31, 1960 

